IRON DEFICIENCY

"Take care of your body, it's the only place you have to live in."

I have had a very interesting couple of weeks, because I have been a bit on the down side and the tiered side for no apparent reason to me.  BUT truth be told it should be VERY apparent to me because I do get low iron, rather often and rather horribly, but I seem to have this weird mental block to keeping it under control and of course be aware when I am not so that I can quickly rectify it. But time and time again it nails me, and it is not like it slowly creeps up on me either, it has some pretty loud warning signs that it is low, and I just don't see it until it is so far gone that it takes a week (if I am lucky) or more (anything up to a month) to get myself back to normal.  It is like I am in denial that I have anything wrong with me.

I am going to tell you the warning signs, because so many of us suffer from this and are totally oblivious that we do. People who should particularly take heed are vegans and vegetarians, or selectatarians such as myself.  I eat red meat, but only for iron, and I forget to eat it, so I get low iron, then I eat meat and feel better and then forget to eat meat, so I get low iron and so it goes with me and has been like this for more than 6 years, since I gave birth to my twins.

Here are my warning signs...

• Tiredness and fatigue - I feel like I need an afternoon nap and fall asleep really early at night.  I wake up and think of coffee, (and I don't drink coffee every day)
• Shortness of breath after walking five steps and loss of strength - I feel my heart in my throat walking to my car or up a couple of stairs (I am quite fit, so this should send alarm bells but not for me, you have to scrape me off the ground before the penny drops) I also feel so weak, I can't carry stuff because everything feels heavy and my arms and legs get sore quickly. (I am one super strong chick, so again, why don't I get it?)
• I am irritable with everything, my PMS is in overdrive, it starts far to early and doesn't stop after my period finishes, in fact it gets worse, which means it is not PMS at all, it is low iron.
• I get a headache the day after I start my period.
• I get constipated.
• I get this low lying sadness.
• I get cold sores.
• My concentration sucks and I am demotivated.
• I feel vulnerable and exposed.
• I feel anxious.
• My shoulders feel tense.
• I loose my appetite.

I don't experience all of these symptoms immediately and I don't always get all of them, (if I realise I have low iron before they do all appear), but the symptoms are big enough on their own to make me feel rather shitty and one would think that I would do something about it sooner so that I can be my normal, happy, cheerful self again, because that makes good sense.

Now here is the moment of truth about my avoiding fixing myself when all of these symptoms arise.....I don't like eating meat, so I forget that it is what I need to feel better, so each symptom is ignored and hence I have to scrape the bottom of the barrel before I am willing realise I need meat.

There are good vegan and vegetarian supplements out there which I could take, but they take a while to have an effect, and red meat starts having an immediate effect on my iron levels. Ideally I need to be on a supplement everyday so that I can avoid this all together, and that is just what I am going to have to do!  I will add it to my other daily supplement routine and I will feel like a million bucks everyday now, and chances are I won't have to eat meat to fix the problem! It has taken me more than 6 years to figure this out! (I really shouldn't admit that.) 

The main point of this article is to bring to attention to how we can and do self sabotage ourselves.  I am educated in nutrition, yet this happens to me.  The red flag waves and I ignore it and go down the spiral of avoidable yukness.  I bring it on myself, time and time again.  Well thankfully through writing this article I have found a solution, and I hope that I am now going to be kinder to myself and more awake to help myself out of the mess low iron creates, by just taking a simple supplement everyday and avoiding it all together!  No more self sabotaging myself with this thing anymore. 

I hope that the information in here has been useful to you. Please leave a comment below and let me know.

With much love

Rosemarie

xxx